155 people killed by flooding in Tanzania
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Flooding in Tanzania caused by weeks of heavy rain has killed 155 people and affected more than 200,000 others, the prime minister said Thursday.
That is more than double the number of deaths reported two weeks ago as the amount of rainfall increases, especially in the coastal region and the capital, Dar es Salaam.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told parliament that the El Niño climate pattern has worsened the ongoing rainy season, causing the flooding and destroying roads, bridges and railways. Flooded schools have been closed and emergency services have rescued people marooned by the flood waters.
Majaliwa warned those living in low-lying areas to move to higher ground and urged district officials to ensure that provisions meant for those whose homes were washed away go to those in need of the supplies. He said more than 51,000 households have been affected by the rains.
The East African region is experiencing heavy rains, with flooding also reported in neighboring Burundi and Kenya.
In Kenya, 35 people were reported dead as of Monday, and the number was expected to increase as flooding continues across the country.
In the Mathare slum in the capital, Nairobi, at least four bodies were retrieved from flooded houses on Wednesday. Local media reported that more bodies were retrieved from the Mathare River.
119 flee flood-damaged Nigerian prison
ABUJA, Nigeria -- More than 100 inmates escaped from an old and decrepit prison near Nigeria's capital after overnight heavy rains destroyed parts of the facility, a prison official said Thursday as security agencies searched for the fugitives.
An hourslong downpour late Wednesday destroyed the perimeter fence of the medium-security prison in the town of Suleja, about 30 miles northwest of Abuja, resulting in the escape of 119 inmates, prisons spokesman Adamu Duza said.
The prison service and other agencies recaptured 10 of the escaped inmates and were searching for the rest, Duza said.
The one-story Suleja prison, with cracked and defaced walls, had 499 inmates, about twice its capacity of 250, according to Nigeria's Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who led a government delegation to the facility after the breakout.
"This shows that we need to relocate a lot of our correctional centers ... to create better space, better security and better infrastructure," the minister said.
New steps would be taken to secure the prisons "and make sure that this doesn't happen anywhere else in Nigeria," he added.
N. Macedonia goes to presidential runoff
SKOPJE, North Macedonia -- Near-complete results from North Macedonia's first round of presidential polls confirmed on Thursday a strong shift toward a candidate backed by the country's center-right opposition.
It was the seventh such election in the small landlocked Balkan country since it gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
With 99.85% of Wednesday's ballots counted, the State Electoral Commission said Gordana Siljanovska Davkova had 40.08% -- that's about double the votes of incumbent President Stevo Pendarovski, who got 19.93%.
Davkova and Pendarovski, who is backed by the governing social democrats, will face off in a second round on May 8, when the country will also hold parliamentary elections.
The runoff will also be affected by potential support from other candidates who failed to get through to the second round. Foremost among them is North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, a government-allied candidate from the country's ethnic Albanian minority, who got 13.36%. Turnout was 49.75%.
Pendarovski, 61, and Davkova, 70, had also competed for a five-year presidential term in 2019, when Pendarovski won the runoff.
Belarus claims drone attack by Lithuania
TALLINN, Estonia -- The head of the top security agency in Belarus claimed Thursday that the country has prevented attempted drone strikes from Lithuania that targeted the capital, Minsk, and surrounding areas.
Lithuania's military and National Crisis Management Center strongly denied the claim by Ivan Tertel, head of the Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB).
Tertel told a session of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly that "the KGB, in cooperation with colleagues from other structures, has recently carried out a number of acute security measures, which made it possible to prevent attacks by combat drones from the territory of Lithuania on objects in Minsk and its suburbs."
He did not present evidence for the claim or give any details. He also said that "radicals" in Lithuania and Poland are producing drones to attack Belarus.
The All-Belarusian People's Assembly includes officials, members of local councils, unions and pro-government activists and operates in parallel with the parliament.
"This is nonsense; I can't find another word," Lithuanian military spokesman Gintautas Ciunis told journalists on Thursday.
Residents gather around the covered body of a women retrieved from a house, after heavy rain in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to dozens of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the U.N., citing the Red Cross. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga))
Residents carry the body of a woman retrieved from a house, after heavy rain in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to dozens of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the U.N., citing the Red Cross. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Schoolchildren stranded on a damaged River Zingiziwa bridge in Dar Esalaam, Tanzania Thursday, April 25, 2024. Flooding in Tanzania caused by weeks of heavy rain has killed 155 people and affected more than 200,000 others, the prime minister said Thursday. (AP Photo)
Public minibus are submerged in the flooded streets of Dar salaam, Tanzania Thursday, April 25, 2024. Flooding in Tanzania caused by weeks of heavy rain has killed 155 people and affected more than 200,000 others, the prime minister said Thursday. (AP Photo)
A family uses a boat after fleeing floodwaters that wreaked havoc in the Githurai area of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to dozens of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the U.N., citing the Red Cross. (AP Photo/Patrick Ngugi)
Residents rescue a woman who was caught during heavy rain in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Apr. 24, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to dozens of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the U.N., citing the Red Cross. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
A displaced woman sits on a couch outside her flooded house, after heavy rain in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to dozens of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the U.N., citing the Red Cross. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Residents gather around the covered dead body of a woman retrieved from a house, after heavy rain in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Apr. 24, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to dozens of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the U.N., citing the Red Cross. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Relative wails near the bodies of women that were retrieved from a house, after heavy rain in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to dozens of deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, according to the U.N., citing the Red Cross. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)